How far would you travel for a jacket potato? I should say “spud” as that’s how TikTok stars and Jake and Harley Nelson are styling their 21st century tubers.
The brothers, born and bred in Preston, Lancashire, have taken a vintage tram and turned it into a street food wagon that’s possibly the country’s oldest jacket potato stall. They have also transformed the classic cheese, beans ‘n’ tuna combo into an international must-try for travellers across the world
TRAM Spud tram in Preston - with a big drizzle of their tram sauce.
Along the way, they’ve racked up 4.1 million followers and 154 million likes on TikTok, and 812,000 YouTube subscribers, as well as welcoming scores of famous faces to the tram.
Musician Joe Jonas even had them fly one of their famous spuds out to Portugal for him.
SPUDFATHER The high-end jackets don’t come cheap, costing from £5 for a cheesy spud up to £12 for combinations such as The Spudfather, a large baked potato oozing with garlic butter and piled high with three cheeses, crispy onions and chilli con carne.
Not convinced? Nor was internet sensation Mr Beast, the world’s biggest YouTuber, when he dropped by, and the lads served up their cheese, beans ‘n’ tuna.
“He wasn’t sure,” laughs Jake, 29, and Harley, 22, who are on a mission to show Americans that their fillings are the best in the business.
“The first time we posted about cheese, beans ‘n’ tuna, the internet went wild and it got millions of views,” says Jake. “Especially in America, as they just don’t get it.
We’re trying to convince them. We add coleslaw on to tuna and chilli as well and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, what’ve you done to that potato?’” But fans aren’t put off. There’s very often a queue when they open up the tram mid-morning each day in Preston’s Cheapside, and the first and last customer of the day are rewarded with a free meal. The brothers say this is the SpudBros ethos - with family values and a duty to give back.
They’ve recently held pop-up potato shops in London and Manchester, where spud fans were happy to wait in line, and are sometimes even available on Deliveroo. This SpudBros Express concept was voted the best in a TikTok food test by huge Tiktokers The Sidemen, and they’ll soon open up a permanent SpudBros in Manchester, though they haven’t yet revealed where. They’re also
VIRAL Jake (left) and Harley preparing to launch some of their favourite sauces, including the sought-after but top secret tram sauce, into supermarkets.
Northerners may be surprised to know SpudBros is charging “London prices” in the capital, with potatoes going for a quid more than usual and all toppings at twice the price.
How have the cheeky and likeable brothers - Harley quips they’re the Ant ‘n’ Dec of potatoes -turned a traditional dish into a steaming hot property in 2025? And, what’s more, done it in just over a year.
Jake, who’s worked on some niche food products before, saw there was potential for rebranding his favourite food, and set out to make a real star out of the modest potato.
You might say that spuds are in their blood.
Harley remembers having his very first jacket from the tram when he was young, because Jake was working there with his sister from the age of 14. At that point, the tram belonged to family friend Keith Roberts, whose uncle Ernie Rhodes had operated the cart since 1955 on Preston’s Flag Market.
“I used to come down to eat cheese and beans and parched peas,” Harley recalls, explaining that parched peas are a Preston delicacy. “They’re a little brown pea, earthy and nutty, with a really distinct taste. You boil them up overnight and add vinegar or mint sauce.”
“And I loved the baby potatoes with garlic butter and cheese,” says Jake.
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We about beans tuna internet went “Keith gave me my first ever Saturday job. When he passed away, my dad bought the cart. Harley wasn’t doing so well at school so Dad brought him in and showed him the business, hands-on.”
When Preston began to open up again after lockdown, Tony noticed the students weren’t coming for his potatoes, but heading for Greggs and McDonald’s instead.
“Harley told him, ‘Dad, potatoes aren’t sexy.’ Dad asked how we could make them sexy. That’s where we realised we needed to get on social media and TikTok,” Jake says.
Jonas from “Harley started it and got us up to
PICTURE@realspudbros 60,000 followers. I then decided to quit my job and get behind making spuds sexy again, making them appeal to the public, so that younger people also felt inspired about turning a little potato tram in Preston into a global brand.”
Can they share their secret recipe?
Not quite. We know the brothers source all their potatoes from a local farm near Preston. And they do say the key to a really tasty baked potato is to wrap them in foil to seal in the moisture - they don’t prick the skin - and bake them for an hour to an hour and a half in a very hot oven.
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STUNTS Some of their stunts, like the SpudBros Challenge, aren’t for the faint-hearted.
“It’s 10 big jacket potatoes,” says Jake. “Loaded with garlic butter, cheese (about a kilo), beans, coleslaw and chilli. As much as we can.”
They launched this challenge with a 30-minute time limit, but no one could get close. Now it’s been extended to an hour, still just two spud lovers have completed the crazy carb-off, winning unlimited potatoes and queue-skipping rights for a year.
As well as handing out free ‘tatoes, Jake and Harley throw their energy behind fundraising, and recently were able to send a young girl called Jordan to the US for treatment for a brain tumour. This spring, they’re raising awareness about testicular cancer among young men, asking them to “check their spuds” with a cheeky tune.
posted cheese, ‘n’ - the wild “We just sell jacket potatoes, but we wanted to raise awareness in a fun way,” says Jake. “This morning we woke up to a message which nearly made me cry. The guy had checked his spuds and he found something. He rang his GP and he’s going to get it checked out. It really shows what you can do on social media.”
The Bros can’t say how many potatoes they’re packing each day.
“But we just keep wrapping and wrapping,” says Jake. “It is really surreal. We sometimes feel like we’re living in a dream.”
INTERVIEW BY SOPHIE MORRIS ¦ ¦Visit @therealspudbros on Instagram and TikTok